Sunday March 7th 2010 saw It Bites play Sheffield Memorial Hall supported by Aynsley Lister and his band.

First a few words about the venue, the Memorial Hall is part of the Sheffield City Hall, a well known location for rock concerts over the years. However it is not the main Oval Hall which has a capacity of 2,000  but a smaller hall to the rear of the building which has temporary seating for 500 people. it’s the first time I’ve been to a concert at the elaborately decorated Memorial Hall which was built as a memorial to troops killed in WWI and is often used for ballroom dancing, it seemed a unusual venue for a rock gig with the bands having to take the stage from the front because of the location of the dressing rooms. John Mitchell said it was like playing in a library and Aynsley Lister commented on the unusual seating arrangements as people kept entering the hall during his set. However it gave a feeling of intimacy although the lighting left something to be desired as we shall reveal later.


It did not know what to expect with Aynsley Lister and was pleasantly surprised. He is certainly not prog, but his four piece blues rock band played a fine set which lasted for about an hour with most of the songs coming off his 2009 album “Equilibrium”.  Lister is a red hot guitarist who also sings good lead vocals as well. On this particular evening his band consisted of Dan Healey (keyboards), Simon Small (drums) and a Portuguese lady called Midus on bass, not sure of her surname as Aynsley said was too hard to pronounce. An approximate setlist (not complete) for them was:

* Early Morning Dew
* Sugar Low (Song about Food)
* What’s It All About ?
* Soul
* Hurricane
* Balls Of Steel

Balls Of Steel is Anysley Lister’s tribute to AC/DC guitarist Angus Young who has been a hero and a particular influence on him.


It Bites are a difficult band to categorise, originally a mid 1980s pop/rock band who had mainstream success early in their career but had progressive elements to their music due to the influence of producer Steve Hillage. After a long hiatus the band re-surfaced to do a very well received album in 2008 called “The Tall Ships” in the melodic progressive rock vein with new front man John Mitchell (Arena, Frost*, Kino) replacing original singer/guitarist Francis Dunnery.

By the time It Bites took to the stage the Hall had filled to capacity, they started off with two old songs including “All In Red” the only song played off their pop/rock first album “Big Lad In The Windmill” and then going into a medley of three songs off “The Tall Ships”. The band then went into heavy duty prog mode performing a long version of “Underneath Your Pillow” from the “Eat Me In St. Louis” album. John Mitchell made a few comments about the poor lighting and jokingly said that he was struggling to see the frets on his guitar, so a spotlight was provided for him and John Beck on keyboards got an Anglepoise lamp. I must say I was mighty impressed by Beck’s contribution on keyboards, not wearing his usual beanie hat tonight and looking smart in a grey suit, his high energy playing matched Mitchell’s ace guitar playing.

Mitchell got out his flashy Titanic Guitar emblazoned with White Star logo for a performance of “The Tall Ships”. One of the highlight of the second half of the concert was a performance of the bands 14 minute long magum opus “Once Around The World” before which Mitchell said they were about to wind the level of prog up to number 11. The concert had to be cut short because of the City Hall’s 10.30pm music curfew on Sundays, although I’m not sure which song was dropped. The band performed the ever popular “Kiss Like Judas” as an encore and had whole venue on its feet and bouncing, Mitchell jumped off the low stage and went into the crowd to join in the bouncing (these cordless guitars come in handy).

As the concert ended the band reminded the crowd to purchase the charity CD of “Calling All The Heroes” that has been produced in association with Marillion, Francis Dunnery, John Wetton, Geoff Downes, Jem Godfrey and Jason Perry in aid of the Flood Recovery Fund for the Cumbria area, the floods happened last November (the band are from Egremont in Cumbria). Many people bought the charity CD at the merchandise area for £3 which included both audio and video discs. If you would like to purchase the download version of the CD, you can at this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/Calling-All-The-Heroes/dp/B00391ZP7A/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie... it only costs 89 pence and is for a very good cause, remember Police Constable Bill Barker made the ultimate sacrifice doing his job and helping the local population during the deluge.

Great Concert !!! Heres the play list for It Bites:

* Bullet In The Barrel
* All In Red
* Playground
* Oh My God
* The Tall Ships
* Underneath Your Pillow
* The Wind That Shakes The Barley
* Old Man And The Angel
* Fahrenheit
* Rose Marie
* Ghosts
* Once Around The World
* Kiss Like Judas